Gutters and downspouts are mounted on most residential and commercial structures along the lower edge of the roof of the structure to receive water draining off of the roof, such as during a rainstorm. Gutters come in many different styles, including K gutter, half round gutter, or commercial box gutter, but all are generally formed with an open top through which water is received into a trough or channel that delivers the water by gravity to a downspout for discharge away from the building structure. Gutters are often mounted on a plurality of hangers that are spaced along the length of the gutter and fastened to fascia boards by nails or screws such that the gutter is suspended from the hangers. The downspout is connected to an outlet of the gutter to provide a conduit to drain the collected rainwater from the gutter for discharge along the surface of the ground and direct the rainwater away from the building structure.
The collection of rainwater has been a practice in use for many years. Most often, the collected rainwater is used for non-potable activities, such as irrigation, washing clothes, washing hair, etc. Typically, the rainwater is collected from the downspout and stored in a collection container, such as a barrel, and utilized at a subsequent date as desired. The use of collected rainwater has an inherent cost advantage over the use of public water as the rainwater is collected without any significant expense. Also, the utilization of collected rainwater provides a conservation function and allows for a better management of the less cost-effective water supplies. The harvesting of rainwater is an international practice and is a primary lifeline in many third world countries. The scarcity of water and rain in many regions of the world is a worldwide problem and the ability to capture water being discarded from the rooftops is becoming popular.
Collection systems for harvesting rainwater have been developed for many years and are generally defined as a device for intercepting the downward flow of rainwater within a downspout and diverting the rainwater to a location remote from the downspout. One such rainwater collector can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,182,376, granted to Bernt Nilsson on Jan. 8, 1980, wherein a dispensing device is formed to be inserted into an intermediate portion of a downspout and defines a collection pocket by a circumferential wall portion that drains into a discharge spout. The Nilsson device does not include any filtration of the descending rainwater, but does provide an overflow from the collection pocket over the edge thereof into the lower downspout portion. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,386,484, granted on Jun. 7, 1983, to Joost van Berne, et al, the collection device incorporates a reception cavity into which rainwater is deflected until the cavity is filled, whereupon an opening at the upper part of the cavity allows overflow back into the lower downspout portion. The reception cavity is formed with a discharge spout to drain rainwater from the cavity to a location remote from the device.
Another deflector apparatus is found in the collection device disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,428,394, issued on Jan. 31, 1984, to Jack Wright, et al, in which rainwater is deflected from the downspout into a discharge spout for diversion of the rainwater into a remote collection vessel. The Wright deflection apparatus is operably connected to a float associated with the collection vessel so that when the collection vessel is filled with diverted rainwater, the deflector apparatus is shifted to allow the rainwater to continue uninterrupted down the downspout. The collection apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,151, issued to Benedetto Vitale on Feb. 23, 1988, is connected directly to the gutter discharge and collects rainwater in a reservoir having an outlet projecting upwardly therein to define a weir over which the collected rainwater will flow into the attached downspout. The reservoir is formed with a discharge spout to allow the diversion of the collected rainwater to a remote location.
A similar collection apparatus is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,114,594, issued on May 19, 1992, to Linda Rosebrock, et al, in which the vertically oriented reservoir is positioned at an intermediate portion of the downspout and includes a bypass opening through which rainwater can overflow into the lower downspout portion and a discharge spout through which water can be diverted. The collection apparatus in U.S. Pat. No. 5,863,151, issued on Jan. 26, 1999, to Dan Chapotelle, is substantially identical to the apparatus disclosed in the Rosebrock patent, wherein a reservoir collects rainwater from an intermediate portion of a downspout with an overflow spout that allows excess water to transfer to the lower downspout portion and a discharge spout to divert collected rainwater to a remote location.
It would be desirable to provide a collection apparatus for harvesting rainwater from a downspout by intercepting the rainwater flowing along the sides of the downspout through surface adhesion so that the rainwater will pass through an internal filter that deflects debris carried by the rainwater into the lower downspout portion, while the collected rainwater is diverted to a remote location. It would also be desirable to provide a rainwater collection apparatus that is easily connectable to the downspout so as to be positionable at an intermediate portion thereof.